A Case Study of Using Habit Reversal Treatment to Improve Fluency in School-Age Children Who Stutter

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate whether a habit reversal treatment program is effective in improving the fluency of school-aged children who stutter. Two school-age children were treated 8 times over 8 weeks. Each treatment session was 30 minutes long and was combined with 20 minutes of counselling, for a total of 50 minutes per a treatment. For both subjects 1 and 2, pre- and post-evaluations were conducted to assess the frequency of stuttering, the form of stuttering, and their speech speed. The subjects were also tested using the communication attitude scale and the characteristic anxiety scale. This evaluating was done to verify the effectiveness of the treatment. Habit reversal treatment is a program that combines self-awareness training and relaxation training together to improve fluency. The children were compared before and after treatment and their fluency had increased. There were improvements in stuttering frequency, stuttering type, and speech speed. In addition, the communication attitude and trait anxiety of the subjects exhibited an improvement after treatment. This study showed that a habit reversal treatment program can help enhance fluency in stuttering school-aged children as well as treat tic disorders. Hopefully in the future, we will be able to prove that it is possible to improve fluency and develop a positive mind for various types of stuttering subjects through continuous habit reversal treatment.